On Indira Gandhi's 27th death anniversary, government departments issued advertisements that must have cost them a fortune. No austerity was in evidence. After all, it was the tax-payers' money, and not any party's.
Congress supporters will argue: If the NDA government could splurge on its 'India Shining' campaign, why shouldn't the Congress sing the praises of one of the country's greatest leaders? That's a weak argument because it was the Congress that actually started the practice of taking out full-page ads on some pretext or the other, and the party is obsessed with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, rather than with great leaders. How many ads have we seen honouring Lal Bahadur Shastri or Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, or any other Congress leader, for that matter?
As coincidences go, Patel's birth anniversary falls the same day Indira Gandhi was assassinated. This year, the BJP noticed the indifference towards him, and asked why the government had issued just one ad in his honour, while dozens were issued to mark Indira Gandhi's death anniversary.
The advertisers, in this case, were not just central government departments such as information and broadcasting, health and family welfare, and social justice and empowerment, but also state government departments in Congress-ruled territories. Churumuri published a break-up of ads in English-language newspapers.
As the nation remembered Indira Gandhi on October 31, the day she was shot dead by her bodyguards in 1984, the tributes were varied. Predictably, Congress leaders eulogised her, recalling from the past sycophantic slogans such as 'India is Indira and Indira is India', and the opposition recalled her ruthlessness in crushing political rivals.
Airports, hospitals and universities are named after Indira Gandhi, thanks not just to a central government in the control of Congress leaders, but also to regional leaders who understand the worth of flattery, and what it can fetch them from the high command. The tradition of Congress governments leaving the choice of chief minister to Sonia Gandhi today is a continuation of Indira Gandhi's legacy, when she ruled with an iron hand, and did not allow any regional leader to question her or even to function independently. Many, who tried to take her on, perished or returned defeated to the fold of the Congress.
So how much did the governments actually spend on the Indira ads this year? Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi who first rebelled against and then succumbed to what he called the 'powerbroker' culture of the Congress, is among the others in the Nehru-Gandhi family to be remembered with sycophantic regularity. Here's an estimate of how much was spent to remember him last year.
Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in The Telegraph, Kolkata: "A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that on May 21, 2010, perhaps Rs 60 or 70 crore was spent by the taxpayer — without his and her consent — on praising Rajiv Gandhi. Since the practice has been in place since 2005, the aggregate expenditure to date on this account is probably in excess of Rs 300 crore."
If the government is spending up to Rs 70 crore a year on Rajiv Gandhi ads, the amount spent to remember his mother is sure to be much higher.
Thrust into prime ministership in 1966, a little after the death of her father Jawaharlal Nehru and his successor Lal Bahadur Shastri, she was initially considered a pushover, but soon evolved into a canny politician who would outsmart her opponents not just in the opposition but also within her party. She became a formidable player internationally, giving nightmares to the Americans and the Pakistanis.
While she is hailed for her war in support of Bangladesh and her efforts to increase agricultural production, the emergency she imposed in 1975 is considered a blot on Indian democracy. Her alliance with extremist Sikh leaders returned to haunt her when they turned into violent separatists. After her death at the hands of two Sikh bodyguards, rioters (allegedly incited by Congress leaders such as Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler) killed 2,700 Sikhs. Families of riot victims are still fighting for justice, and remember those four days of violence with anger and bitterness. Such wounds, the Congress may have realised, don't heal so easily.
Congressmen who worked with Indira will unhesitatingly tell you that she ruled their lives with the authority of an empress. NT Rama Rao rose to power by invoking Telugu pride, and ridiculing Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh who became spineless in her presence. Many regional parties similarly grew stronger in a Congress-dominated climate seen as hostile to their aspirations.
Indira used the licence-permit raj, which she had inherited, to devastating political advantage. She will remain a hero to her partymen (it was said she was the only man in her cabinet!), but will continue to be painted in complex hues outside. And no one will deny that she loved flattery.
Related
* The day Indira Gandhi died: Sunil Rajguru's blog post
* Sonia congratulates Mohan Dharia on winning Indira Gandhi award
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